WayneThunder
New member
This post is in response to a thread that's since been deleted. I won't quote any of the offending thread, but it's not essential to the point I wish to get across.
Before I start, let me say that I have no close working relationship with any of the people who own or run Gashaus and therefore no agenda other than to put things in perspective for everyone.
First of all, it costs money to operate any live venue, from rent, to utilities, to labour, to liquor licensing which is an often redundant burden in Gashaus' case because a large proportion of their patrons are either underaged or muslim, and therefore non-alcoholic consumers. As a result, charging an entry fee, a modest $10, is the only way they can begin to recover these basic running costs before even thinking about advertising.
Think about it. How many pubs in Singapore voluntarily sacrifice their primary source of revenue (i.e. alcohol) just so that underage kids can have a place to go and watch live bands? Off-hand, maybe 2 or 3 at best. In Melbourne, by law, venues have to pay $500 to the government to de-license, just for the right to allow underage patrons entry for one afternoon. This cost is passed on to the gig organisers (often the bands themselves) and at the end of the day they're ecstatic if they so much as break even through ticket and merchandise sales. So before we complain about having to cough up $10 of our precious money, we should consider ourselves lucky that here is a venue that's happily biting the bullet so that young bands can have a place to play and watch other bands play without having to worry about the realities of recovering costs.
In most other countries, it is NOT a venue's responsibility to supply a band's instruments. In every pub I played in Australia, there was not a single one that provided instruments, and certainly not for free. All that's provided is the PA system and a stage engineer who's usually only there to unlock the microphone cabinet, plug in a few cables and turn on the power before disappearing for the rest of the night - unless you pay him extra to do your live sound. For over 200 shows across Australia, we transported our own equipment and paid our own trusted sound engineer almost every gig where possible.
Wanna know something else? Even rehearsal studios in Australia are equipped with nothing more than a PA system and a large, empty carpet. So even the shittiest, crappiest band has their own equipment (YES, including amps and drums) which they have to lug around ANYWHERE and EVERYWHERE they want to play or rehearse.
So once again, here we have a venue that's happily providing all the equipment a band needs to perform, at no extra cost whatsoever because they understand that many young bands in this country are not professional enough to own and transport their own gear. The musician who feels entitled to complain about any equipment provided for free should first question why he isn't using his own equipment to begin with. If you don't like the guitar amp provided, bring your own. If you don't like the drums provided, bring your own. If you don't trust the sound engineer, BRING YOUR OWN. If you can't deal with that, then you shouldn't even be playing! It's what all decent bands do everywhere else.
Live venues are there to support the gig-going community, and they place themselves at considerable financial risk every day and night so that people have a place to watch live music. If they die, how else can bands have a chance to grow, and how else can more people become interested in live music? As musicians and so-called supporters, the least we can do is appreciate the fact and give these venues every possible reason to keep doing what they do.
Unless you would rather see them turn into yet another K-Box or R&B club.
Wayne Thunder
www.myspace.com/waynethunder
www.rampageontheairwaves.com
Before I start, let me say that I have no close working relationship with any of the people who own or run Gashaus and therefore no agenda other than to put things in perspective for everyone.
First of all, it costs money to operate any live venue, from rent, to utilities, to labour, to liquor licensing which is an often redundant burden in Gashaus' case because a large proportion of their patrons are either underaged or muslim, and therefore non-alcoholic consumers. As a result, charging an entry fee, a modest $10, is the only way they can begin to recover these basic running costs before even thinking about advertising.
Think about it. How many pubs in Singapore voluntarily sacrifice their primary source of revenue (i.e. alcohol) just so that underage kids can have a place to go and watch live bands? Off-hand, maybe 2 or 3 at best. In Melbourne, by law, venues have to pay $500 to the government to de-license, just for the right to allow underage patrons entry for one afternoon. This cost is passed on to the gig organisers (often the bands themselves) and at the end of the day they're ecstatic if they so much as break even through ticket and merchandise sales. So before we complain about having to cough up $10 of our precious money, we should consider ourselves lucky that here is a venue that's happily biting the bullet so that young bands can have a place to play and watch other bands play without having to worry about the realities of recovering costs.
In most other countries, it is NOT a venue's responsibility to supply a band's instruments. In every pub I played in Australia, there was not a single one that provided instruments, and certainly not for free. All that's provided is the PA system and a stage engineer who's usually only there to unlock the microphone cabinet, plug in a few cables and turn on the power before disappearing for the rest of the night - unless you pay him extra to do your live sound. For over 200 shows across Australia, we transported our own equipment and paid our own trusted sound engineer almost every gig where possible.
Wanna know something else? Even rehearsal studios in Australia are equipped with nothing more than a PA system and a large, empty carpet. So even the shittiest, crappiest band has their own equipment (YES, including amps and drums) which they have to lug around ANYWHERE and EVERYWHERE they want to play or rehearse.
So once again, here we have a venue that's happily providing all the equipment a band needs to perform, at no extra cost whatsoever because they understand that many young bands in this country are not professional enough to own and transport their own gear. The musician who feels entitled to complain about any equipment provided for free should first question why he isn't using his own equipment to begin with. If you don't like the guitar amp provided, bring your own. If you don't like the drums provided, bring your own. If you don't trust the sound engineer, BRING YOUR OWN. If you can't deal with that, then you shouldn't even be playing! It's what all decent bands do everywhere else.
Live venues are there to support the gig-going community, and they place themselves at considerable financial risk every day and night so that people have a place to watch live music. If they die, how else can bands have a chance to grow, and how else can more people become interested in live music? As musicians and so-called supporters, the least we can do is appreciate the fact and give these venues every possible reason to keep doing what they do.
Unless you would rather see them turn into yet another K-Box or R&B club.
Wayne Thunder
www.myspace.com/waynethunder
www.rampageontheairwaves.com
